Livestock are transported from farm to market in large livestock trailers. These typically have an upper deck and a lower deck, and animals are transported with both decks full of animals in order to attain maximum efficiency. These trailers also have a nose compartment which is separated from the rest of the upper and lower deck. The nose compartment is a part of the trailer that has less height than the rest of the trailer. It is the area above where the trailer attaches to the fifth wheel of a semi-tractor, and hence is a shortened portion of the trailer. The nose compartment deck is accessed by way of a ramp that extends from the upper deck of the main compartment. The ramp is called a counterbalance, and is used to provide access to livestock animals to enter the nose compartment of the lower deck. When the ramp or counterbalance is down, one or both sides of the ramp may be exposed which allows animals to leap or fall from one or both sides of the ramp into the lower deck of the main part of the trailer. Having the ramp down also allows an animal's foot to be caught alongside the ramp, and deaths or injuries of animals are not infrequent. The ramp is usually situated so that it is along one side of the trailer, so that when the ramp is down, only one side of the ramp exposes a triangular gap to the lower deck of the trailer.